Prophetic Mountains

The changes of the surrounding world did not observe any calendar principles. Man could not foretell them, although he obviously felt the need for it. New relief forms often appeared unexpectedly. It is known that less than ten thousand years ago three massive domes appeared concurrently on the north of the Geghama mountain range in just a few days. They now tower over the right hand of the Yerevan-Sevan highway. The fact that the molten lava of Mt Aragats sometimes covered hundreds of kilometres at a speed of 6 meters per second, speaks of extensive changes in the landscape. It is an ascertained fact, that after one of such eruptions, flows of lava blocked the river-bed of the ancient Akhuryan River and reached the Kars plateau.

In those times, people indeed felt an urgent need for prophets and soothsayers. During that very period the cult of the prophetic bird worshipped in the ancient world emerged. In Armenia this bird was the crow. The toponymy of the region comprises numerous place-names of various relief forms (gorges and mountains, cliffs and mountain ranges), which have a direct bearing to this prophetic bird. Particularly famous are the Crow stones, which represent rock sculptures with natural or cut-through entries. At first people used the natural recesses in the pyramid monolith as entries, but later began hacking through stairs or carving their own way themselves. Goris Region still keeps the initial samples of the Crow stones, around which the superstitious people waited for a heavenly sign from the prophetic bird.